OLD BRIDGE — A judge in New Brunswick ruled Thursday the statements to police by a teenager linking him and four other teens to the killing of an Old Bridge man last June are admissible in his trial.

Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz rejected Steven Contreras’s testimony Wednesday that he felt "intimidated" and "in custody" when he gave the statements on June 26, 2010 and June 30, 2010.

"I listened to his (Contreras) testimony and find it was incredulous and dishonest," Ferencz said. "His responses were inconsistent and just not true."

Ferencz’s ruling ended a two-day hearing in which Contreras, of Old Bridge, and his attorney tried to suppress the two statements, one an audio recording and the other a video recording. In them, Contreras details the fatal attack the night of June 25, 2010 on Divyendu Sinha, a computer scientist who was out strolling with his family outside their home on Fela Drive.

The five teenagers are charged with Sinha’s murder, as well as assaulting two of Sinha’s sons and a motorist before the attack on Sinha.

Contreras told investigators on both days that his friends, Julian Daley, Chris Conway, Christian Tinli and Cash Johnson, all of whom were 16 or 17 and from Old Bridge, "were looking for a fight" as they cruised the township that night after drinking several bottles of malt liquor.

Contreras said he let them out of the car after Conway saw "some kids" walking down Fela Drive — kids Conway described as "three dudes and a chick," according to Contreras.

The four teens allegedly punched Sinha to the ground and then fled. They were arrested in the days following the attack.

The assault left Sinha on life support for three days, with severe head injuries, until he died June 28.

Contreras’s attorney, Hassen Abdulleh, argued Thursday that investigators knew Contreras was a suspect in Sinha’s when they spoke to him on June 26, 12 hours after the attack, and should have read him his constitutional rights. Abdulleh said investigators told Contreras, "he was a witness, but that was just a way to get around Miranda."

Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Kuberiet dismissed Abdulleh’s arguments. "He (Contreras) made a concerted decision to cooperate with police knowing what he had done," Kuberiet said. "The intimidation charge was scripted for this hearing."

The judge agreed.

"The defendant voluntarily went with police," Ferencz said. "It was clear this defendant believed he was going to explain away his conduct, to rationalize and justify what occurred."

He said the evidence was "overwhelming" that both statements were voluntarily given without any coercion or intimidation.

The teens are being tried in adult court although they were juveniles when the attacks took place.